8 as well as the use of consular protection to promote the reunification of families and the victims’ recovery of their identity. It also reaffirmed its willingness to carry out the other measures provided for in the Judgment in the case of the Serrano Cruz Sisters, including the establishment of a gene bank. 57. Related to the instant case, the State indicated that through the Ministry of Foreign Relations it has promoted coordination with other state institutions to submit to them information that may allow access to justice for the victims. It argued in this connection that the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic has reported its decision to promote the investigation into the disappearance of José Adrián Rochac, and that was the subject of the opening of a prosecutorial investigation in 2002; it has been archived for several years. It also indicated that a prosecutorial investigation has been opened into the disappearance of the boys Manuel Antonio Bonilla, Ricardo Ayala Abarca, and Santos Ernesto Salinas, as well as the girl child Emelinda Hernández. 58. Finally, the State argued that it was fully willing to take steps forward in terms of access to information, recovery of identity, family reunification, and medical and psychosocial attention for the victims. IV. FACTS PROVEN A. Preliminary consideration on the recognition of responsibility by the State 59. As the Commission indicated in the section on the State’s position, during the hearing on the merits held November 6, 2009, the State indicated that it does not controvert the facts alleged by the petitioners in relation to the forced disappearances of the children Santos Ernesto Salinas, José Adrián Rochac Hernández, Emelinda Hernández, Manuel Antonio Bonilla Osorio, and Ricardo Abarca Ayala. In addition, at that hearing the State of El Salvador requested of the petitioners that they convey to the petitioners their “most sincere apologies” for not having considered them victims in the past, and for not having recognized the suffering they have endured. 60. Based on what the State expressed in the hearing on the merits, the Commission observes that the recognition of responsibility by the State encompasses all of the facts that are addressed in the petitions, in relation to both the context and the circumstances around the disappearances of José Adrián Rochac Hernández, Santo Ernesto Salinas, Emelinda Lorena Hernández, Ricardo Ayala Abarca, and Manuel Antonio Bonilla. 61. The Commission greatly values the recognition by the Salvadoran State and determines that it has legal effects in the proceeding. Mindful of the need to contribute to recovering the truth, as well as the reparative effect of clarifying the facts for the family members, the Commission next proceeds to make a determination of the context, the facts of the case, and their legal consequences in light of the American Convention. In determining the facts, the Commission shall give special consideration, in addition to the available evidence, to the express recognition by the State of the facts narrated by the petitioners. B. Context 62. Since its inception, the Commission has been particularly concerned by the human rights situation in El Salvador, especially during the years of civil war that blighted the country. In that regard, in 1983 it expressed its concern at “the violence in El Salvador, where unlawful executions and disappearances continued.” As the Commission had pointed out in earlier reports, most such acts were committed by security forces and by paramilitary groups acting with impunity and outside the law. The fact that these crimes were never properly investigated seemed to indicate that these groups were operating with the Government's tacit consent. According to data supplied to the Commission by various 2 reliable sources, more than 2000 Salvadorans died in the period covered by this report. . 2 IACHR, Annual Report 1982-1983, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.61, Doc. 22 rev. 1, September 27, 1983, p. 11.